Notes on courtship, egg-laying site, and defensive behavior of Epipedobates flavopictus (Anura, Dendrobatidae) from two mountain ranges of central and southeastern Brazil

Abstract

Keywords: Anura, Dendrobatidae, Epipedobates flavopictus, egg-laying site, defensivebehavior, courtship call, rock fields.Epipedobates flavopictus (Lutz, 1925) is amember of the E. pictus species group(Silverstone 1976) that can be found in theBrazilian states of Minas Gerais, Goias,Tocantins, Para, and Maranhao (Frost 2004).This species has been under taxonomicdiscussion recently (Haddad and Martins 1994)but little information is available on itsreproductive biology. Haddad and Martins(1994) have described its advertisement call,morphology of tadpoles and adults. It was alsoreported that males call from rock crevices atcreek margins in rock fields, a commonformation of central Brazil (Haddad and Martins1994). There is also an indication that thisspecies could perform deimatic behavior,similarly to Pleurodema brachyops, but nodescriptions were provided (see Martins 1989,where E. flavopictus is treated in the genusDendrobates). Herein, we describe theoviposition site, the egg-masses, the courtshipcall, and the deimatic behavior associated toparental care exhibited by one individual of E.flavopictus.Field observations were made on 8November 1989, at Municipality of Santana doRiacho, Serra do Cipo, state of Minas Gerais,southeastern Brazil (19o25’ S, 43o32’ W, about800 m above sea level), and on 17 and 18December 2003 at the Vale da Lua, Municipalityof Alto Paraiso, Chapada dos Veadeiros, state ofGoias, central Brazil (14o11’ S, 47o47’ W, about905 m above sea level). Adult specimens,tadpoles, and eggs were collected and measuredwith a digital caliper to the nearest 0.01 mm.The specimens were deposited at Celio F. B.Haddad anuran collection (CFBH), Departa-mento de Zoologia, Universidade EstadualPaulista, Rio Claro, State of Sao Paulo, Brazil.Tadpoles were staged according to Gosner(1960) and measured according to Altig (1970).Vocalizations were recorded with a MarantzPMD222 tape recorder and a Sennheiser MT80microphone.